Even if you don't play guitar, you've probably still heard of Gibson guitars.

And if you've never heard of Gibson, you've still definitely heard a Gibson.

The electric guitars have a tone that is thick and heavy, this powerful sound.

It's the sound of Jimmy Page and Carlos Santana of BB King and Sister Rosetta Tharth.

There is an incredible kind of vibe to a Gibson guitar.

That doesn't even include the acoustic guitars.

That's the guitar of Robert Johnson and Emilou Harris.

The sound of a Gibson is iconic and so are so many of the famous musicians who strum them.

So it's easy to forget that there's a whole team of people by every one of these guitars,

and the designers to the loopiers to the people who help cut, shape, and finish the various parts.

These workers don't generally get a lot of credit.

They're drowned out by the glory of the instruments they make and the musicians who use them.

But in one very unique case, a group of Gibson guitar makers

wasn't just ignored or overlooked.

Their very existence was covered up.

I'm Dylan Therese and this is Alice Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today we're going to Kalamazoo Michigan, home of the original Gibson guitar factory,

and we'll hear the story of the Kalamazoo gals, the women who stepped up to produce thousands of guitars during World War II,

only to be written out of history.

But don't fret, we've got the story.

That's after this.

There are a lot of guitars out there these days.

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